Vehicles and two-wheelers ply on roads at Pokhariput under ward No. 62 and (below) drain water spills on a stretch in ward No. 29 under the Bhubaneswar North Assembly constituency. Funds crunch has hit new road construction at Kalunanda Nagar as well as the drain jobs at Unit-IX. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 21: The decision to bring down the ward budget from Rs 70 lakh to Rs 40 lakh by the municipal corporation this year has started showing its effects on the development work in many areas.

Three roads at Kalunanda Nagar of Pokhariput (ward No. 62), which were about to be laid this year, were later deleted from the list with the ward councillor including three other roads near Ananta Vihar.

“We ran from pillar to post at the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation office for almost a year to get things done. Following land clearance, the tender process had also started. But with the slash in the ward budget after the July council meeting, our hope was shattered,” said Bidyadhar Biswal, general secretary of the Kalunanda Nagar Unnayan Parishad.

When the members of the resident welfare association met the councillor, he advised them to approach the grievance cell of the civic body to include it in the “emergency budget”.

Councillor Hrudaya Ballabh Samantray said: “The welfare association members have to approach the corporation for inclusion of their demands in the emergency budget. A team of civic body officials, including engineers, will visit the area, and once they are convinced, work will be taken up after all formalities are met.”

Association president Nrupakishore Pattanaik, however, said: “We approached the grievance cell on September 8 and hope that our work will start within this year as the estimate was prepared by the corporation engineers.”

Sources said the ward budget was mainly slashed as the civic body had to pay contractors’ dues to the tune of Rs 73 crore, and second, after the general and civic polls, there was less than six months left in the year to execute the work.

Of the 67 wards, while 25 are under the Bhubaneswar (North) Assembly constituency, there are 23 wards under the Ekamra Assembly seat and 19 under the Central Assembly constituency.

While the North and Ekamra Assembly seats are less developed and need more funds as they constitute mainly the outskirts, the Central Assembly constituency has better civic amenities.

But in reality, wards under the Central Assembly seat are also going to be in trouble due to the slash in the ward budget allocation.

“I had planned roads and drains in six localities, but only one was referred to the standing committee on works, because we did not have enough funds for the rest,” said councillor Seikh Nizammudin of ward No. 29 from the Unit-IX and adjacent areas.

Nizamudin, also chairman of the corporation’s standing committee on taxation, finance and accounts, told The Telegraph: “The wards under the Central Assembly seat are comparatively well-off with roads and drains, but to revive old roads and drains, which are over 30 years old, we need more money. Just imagine what would be the fate of the outskirts and newly created wards.”

He said new wards under the Bhubaneswar North Assembly constituency needed Rs 2.5 crore to Rs 3 crore to have minimum basic civic facilities such as roads and drains. “The slash in the budget is going to curtail the development of these wards,” he said.

Councillor of ward No. 6 (Sailashree Vihar) Pritinanda Routray said: “I had plans to complete at least five projects, but as the budget was reduced, I had given only two roads for consideration.”

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said: “Demands of the resident welfare associations from various wards will be considered. If our engineers find the demand justified, there will be no problem in sanctioning funds.”